SPA380.11 Pre-Hispanic Myths and Voices

Taught in Spanish at Pontificia Universidad Católica and may not be offered every semester. In this course, you’ll develop competency in critical reading of pre-Hispanic texts: Mesoamerican songs and myths (Toltec-Aztec and Mayan) of the Nahuatl, Mayan-Quechua, and Maya-Yucatecan cultures; and of the Andean region (Inkanato). In accordance with this objective, you’ll study a body of pre-Hispanic texts transcribed in the Colony, as well as a set of critical texts (philological, historiographic and literary-cultural criticism). On the basis of these materials, you’ll engage in textual analysis (recognition of rhetorical and poetic codifications) and in the reconstruction of the cultural fabric of pre-Hispanic societies (orality/multimedia/writing; translation; myth/memory). Based on expository classes and classroom work, we contrast the main issues and problems raised by these texts with the contexts in which they took place and with their validity or obsolescence in today’s world.

(PUC #LET306E)

Department: Spanish

Location: Santiago

Credits: 3